Teamwork

Ice Cube

Remember fresh out of NWA era Ice Cube?
What about "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" Ice Cube?



This was 20 years ago!!!!
We've had ANOTHER Bush as president!
Donald Trump is rich again!
But, Jim Baker is long gone(RIP)!

I'd like to think that if Cube and DJ Pooh(Sir Jinx, too!) got back together one more time, they might be able to recreate the music they made like this classic!

At least make the videos with this kind of comedy...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

I don't know why this isn't on the same level for Black folks and Thanksgiving like "This Christmas" is for Jesus' Birthday....

G.R.I.T.S.

Girls
Raised
in
The
South
(If ya ain't know)

And this is their unofficial anthem...




Also, one of the items on my bucket list is to see Franke Beverly & Maze before them dudes fall 6ft under...

Speechless

Even if it ain't him, this is still a "Win" in my eyes!!!!

Warning

Never trust a big butt and a smile



Yet, I always see women with phat asses smiling so lovely!

Before I Let Go

"Never make moves until your heart and mind are in agreement"

Everyday

I had this on a Slow Jams CD a few years back.
You can't say that it ain't a banger!
Yeah, nobody could make me change my mind on it either way...
Another song that wasn't a released single, but when you listen to someone's whole album, you may come away with a personal favorite!

A word from the wise

Colored Girls

Crayola now has meaning in my adult life!!!!

Eye Hate U

Everyday during football season, we would have practice outisde. Going through drills an, working on plays and letting everybody know what to look for and how to respond to what we might be facing against that week's opponent. Then, we would go back inside the school, take off our pads, change back into our regular clothes, and the head to "film session". We were a Chicago Public School with a "limited budget", so most of these "film sessions were less movie watching and more hearing our coach's recorded tape message from him scouting the other team. All the while, diagraming what he saw on the chalkboard.

I told you we had a limited budget!!!

On most days while were in the process of transitioning from the field to the classroom, there would be a slight delay in getting everybody together at the classroom. Those who got there early or on time would wait in the hallway outside the classroom until the rest of the team, and coaches, showed up for the session. It would take 5, 10, maybe even 30 miutes to get everybody there, including the coaching staff. Needless to say, there would be a lull in the action. If you know teenagers, you know that our idle minds were the Devil's playground. And, man, our collective mindsets must have been a theme park to that devil.




This song had just dropped and was getting radio play something serious. IT WAS PRINCE!!! he had dropped the name and was already going by the symbol. So cats on the radio were calling him "The Artist..." and shit. My teenaged mind soaked it all up. I didn't really know about "Darling Nikki" or even "Adore". I knew about "Alphabet Street" and "When Doves Cry" so don't side eye me for too long. But this song right here?

BLEW MY MIND!!!

We had this one guy on our team that couldn't, really sing, but he liked to listen to music. His name was Jesse and he was our back-up quaterbackGuys like that have the tendency to hum a tune that they like in public. Not loudly, though, because they will be politely asked to be quiet due to lack of skill. Jesse, unlike myself, knew about some Prince. He and some of his family were serious fans. So when "Eye Hate U" came out, he was on it. One day while we were waiting for film session to start he mentioned the song and started speaking the trial part "Your honor....".

It got a good laugh out of the teammates that were there. He went on a few more times that day with that line. It was cool. But then it escalated once we got into the actual film sesion. We were reviewing film and one of the players had made a mistake on the field. Perhaps on coverage of a blocking assignment. The coach asked the player what was he thinking. he went on to ask the player to explain his poor decision.

There was silence.

The coach asked the player again. Why did he make that decision on that play.

Silence still.

The coach turned to him and looked at him.

"Your honor...."

The player was Jesse...

We all broke out laughing.

By this time, the coaches had heard about Jesse's impersonation and mimicry of the song. Even the head coach had to crack a smile. Jesse admitted his mistake and the film session continued on. Albeit at a much more relaxed pace.

Jesse, was a fool! This cat would act out "Weekend At Bernie's" where instead of Calypso, he would reanimate himself using some DJ Chip or Deeeon. He'd start laying on the floor in the hallway like he was a dead body. One of the other players would start doing a housebeat on the lockers or wall while somebody else would get the chant going(Always gotta have a chant like "Big Booty girls/They talk alot of shit..."). As the makeshift music started going, Jesse would move and become animated. All the while lifting his body off the ground to where he was standing up and juking to the beat.

It was simple and clownish, but it allowed for the team to pass time and relax in between field and film sessions during the week. So whenever I hear this song, I usually think of this event.


That, and one of my ex-girlfriends that went to Lindblom....

Talk That Talk Part2

I'm for this on so many levels.....

Miles Davis and Gil Evans

Ever notice how Spike Lee uses jazz in his movies?

This composition is originally from Miles Davis' collaboration with Gil Evans called "Sketches of Spain" where the duo utilizes a Spanish theme throughout the album. Apparently jazz listeners and intellects thought it was not Jazz at all. Since the playing and instrumentation is not as improvisational it was lacking in one of the main tenets of Jazz at the time. For me, and other as well, it is undisputedly a Jazz Classic.




This song was used in Spike Lee's "She Hate Me", during the scene where Jack Armstrong(Anthony Mackie) was wandering about Times Square in the days after he was let go from his job. You know the film's synopsis, so I won't go any further. This scene just showed NYC and with visuals of people on the street, some locals, others tourists and how the area just gave off this...vibe of some sorts when placed within the context of the character's situation. This feeling was accentuated by the music created by Davis & Evans in this song.

See the rhythm of Elvin Jones' snare and the finger snaps, which are syncopated to sound like maracas, create a sound like some one is marching. Like a drone in an ant colony. It thus creates a hustle n bustle of some sorts similar to a bustling NYC street. When the horns come in, that's when you realize and pay attention to the traffic in the street. Both entities, sections of sound and rhythm, are working together but are seperate. Visually, at least, but the way Gil Evans arranged the music, they have to cooperate. All the while, the character of Jack Armstrong that is on the street but not going anywhere. Yet still having to find a rhythm, a place among those also in the street, is akin to Miles' trumpet playing. Just weaving in and out...

Thankfully, this scene reintroduced me to this wonderful album. I somehow had forgotten all about it in college because my peers were just discovering "Kind of Blue" or "Birth Of The Cool". I wasn't a stranger to Jazz or those records because my father had already introduced them to me. But as a young teenager, I sgruged it off and thought nothing of it. Years later and maturity somewhat developed, I realized the mistake that I made. I knew that Miles Davis and Gil Evans were one of the best collaborators in music. They are up there with Gilbert and Sullivan. Ridgers and Hammerstein. Bacharach and David. Timbaland and Twista. Along with "Birth of the Cool" and "Sketches of Spain", they also created for us their interpretation of "Porgy and Bess" and "Miles Ahead".

Another Dusty Classic

I always enjoy listening to the Saturday Night Dusty Stepper set on V-103 with Casper as the DJ. He plays some deep in the crate classics that have me jammin while en route somewhere. Its an odd way to pre-game, but I have to do what's good for me. Just this past weekend, I heard this on the radio. The last 2 minutes are what I love best. The vamp/bridge of the song where the band just plays on and the group improvises.